Anti-Foreign Bias in Germany: A Behavioural Economic Analysis of ist Relevance in Structural Change

In particular, the structural change resulting from globalisation and the associated short-term loss of jobs are a recurring source of controversy. This phenomenon can be largely ascribed to parochialism, a concept well-known to evolutionary psychology and which manifests itself in economic terms as anti-foreign bias. The present study focuses on the occurence of anti-foreign bias among the German population and differences between age groups and social classes and between the Federal Republic´s sixteen states. The authors show that there are significant differences in the frequency and intensity of anti-foreign bias between the various demographic and social groups. For example, anti-foreign bias is significantly stronger among older than among younger people, and is also more pronounced among the working class and among those with no more than lower secondary education. There are few differences between income groups.